Topping off the best of the Eleventh Doctor, not only another home run to the series with Valarie, but a story that was actually a last-minute addition. This was written by Lisa McMullin who’d requested to write this and was given permission following the end of Curiosity Shop where she felt that there was a lot of emotional baggage between the Doctor and Valarie following the ending of that story that she felt wouldn’t have been followed up well had the series gone straight into the Everywhere and Anywhere box set. So we got Broken Hearts released as a special bonus story on its own and it’s amazing that for a story written and added last minute that not only does it work so well slotted in between box sets as well as being my favourite Eleventh Doctor story but also my favourite story of 2023.

Picking up from the ending of Curiosity Shop, Valarie’s friendship and trust with the Doctor has reached its breaking point after the Doctor coerced her to giving up her cybernetic augmentations piece by piece until there was barely anything left of her. Now with his mind properly restored, the Doctor must now face the consequences of his actions as Valarie asks for some time away from him. Her request brings them to a world in ruin, a world where the weather seems to respond to their emotions and the history of this planet brings Valarie to the shocking realisation that she doesn’t truly know the Doctor at all.

The heart of the story is the dynamic between the Doctor and Valarie and how their relationship is on thin ice after everything they’ve been through. Lisa McMullin beautifully creates this world that allows them to properly explore their issues with one another and for the Doctor to confess to Valarie the darker side of his character. We also get some fantastic sequences in between of a pair of rescue robots who over the years after failing to find other life forms to save have begun to develop their own feelings. Both stories come together for an outstanding climax that helps repair the fractured friendship between the Doctor and Valarie. These are the kind of stories I wish Modern Who would be brave enough to attempt between the Doctor and the companion, most of the time it feels as if they play things too safe with the companions always being in awe and amazement of the Doctor instead of seeing him for what he is, a flawed person who has made terrible mistakes in the past that the companion would be rightly horrified of.

To say this series of the Eleventh Doctor Chronicles bidding farewell to Jacob Dudman was a success would be a massive understatement, it’s one of the best things Big Finish has ever put together and it shows a true love for the Eleventh Doctor era.

Thworping through time and space, one adventure at a time! 

“BROKEN HEARTS: WHEN TRUST IS SHATTERED”

Broken Hearts is a unique entry in The Eleventh Doctor Chronicles, an additional story inserted between volumes 4 and 5 at Safiyya Ingar’s insistence. She rightly argued that Valarie wouldn’t simply forgive Eleven for what happened in Curiosity Shop—and this story makes good on that promise.

It also marks Jacob Dudman’s final performance as the Eleventh Doctor for Big Finish, making this a particularly poignant farewell. Rather than going out on a triumphant high, the Doctor is at one of his lowest points, facing the devastating consequences of his actions and the realisation that, this time, a simple apology won’t fix things.

From the very start, the atmosphere is thick with tension. Valarie is still bitter, still furious, and still deeply hurt after the Doctor stripped away parts of her cybernetic body without her consent. The Doctor, in his usual way, tries to defuse the situation with jokes and forced cheerfulness, but Valarie isn’t playing along. Their interactions are painful to witness, filled with raw emotion and unresolved anger. Rarely has a Doctor-companion relationship felt this fractured and intense.

A WORLD IN RUINS, A RELATIONSHIP IN SHAMBLES

In an attempt to make amends, the Doctor brings Valarie to a war-torn world. But his plan backfires spectacularly. Not only does Valarie remain cold and distant, but she is horrified to discover that the Doctor has been here before—though he has no memory of it. A statue of one of his past incarnations stands in tribute to the great things he once did to save the planet. But whatever victory he achieved then, it was only temporary. The world needed him again, and he never returned. Now, it lies in ruins.

For Valarie, this is a deeply unsettling revelation. She realises how little she truly knows about the Doctor—his past selves, his forgotten deeds, the worlds he’s saved and the ones he’s left behind. And when he once again asks to use her cybernetic components to help this dying planet, the wound between them deepens. How can she trust him not to take advantage of her again?

The world itself is an eerie, devastated place, stalked by strange, living rain—an ancient Time Lord weapon that has reduced the planet to rubble. This revelation only worsens Valarie’s already crumbling perception of the Doctor. She sees, perhaps for the first time, the full scale of what he has done. The billions he has killed. The horrors left in the wake of the Time War. And for the first time, she is afraid of him.

TWO BROKEN ROBOTS, TWO BROKEN HEARTS

Interwoven with the Doctor and Valarie’s story is the tale of two recovery bots, wandering the ruined world in an endless search for survivors. Over time, they have evolved—developing personalities, emotions, even love. The male robot is cynical; the female, hopeful. As the Doctor and Valarie’s relationship falls apart, the robots, ironically, are falling in love.

Voiced by Dudman and Ingar, the robots provide a fascinating counterpoint to the main drama. Their transformation—from emotionless machines to individuals with meaning and purpose—mirrors the journey of the Doctor and Valarie in reverse. The scene in which one of them finally deactivates, leaving the other to continue the search alone, is quietly devastating. It’s a small, beautiful tragedy in a story already overflowing with heartbreak.

A POETIC FAREWELL

The title Broken Hearts carries layers of meaning. It speaks to Valarie’s betrayal, to the Doctor’s unspoken guilt, to the robots’ tragic fate, and to the world itself—another shattered place the Doctor couldn’t save.

But even in the midst of all this loss, there is hope. The planet begins to heal. The surviving robot is given a new mission, a new purpose. And, in their own way, so are the Doctor and Valarie. Their relationship will never be the same, but perhaps, just perhaps, they can move forward.

Jacob Dudman delivers a powerhouse performance in his final outing as Eleven, particularly in the moments where the Doctor’s carefully maintained façade finally crumbles under the weight of his past. Safiyya Ingar, meanwhile, is phenomenal as Valarie, making her pain and anger feel utterly real. Their performances elevate an already excellent script into something truly special.

📝VERDICT: 10/10

Broken Hearts is a beautifully painful story, exploring the darker, more complicated side of the Doctor-companion dynamic. It’s not about grand adventures or alien battles—it’s about betrayal, trust, and the wounds that may never fully heal.

As Dudman’s swan song as Eleven, it’s a fittingly bittersweet farewell. Not with a grand, heroic moment, but with a quiet, deeply human reckoning.

The guilt of the Time lord

Is It Worth It?: Absolutely. For $10, this is an excellent story.

Prerequisites: The previous 11DC audios and Series 7 of New Who

Broken Hearts is frankly exactly what I love about the best Doctor-Companion relationships: it examines deeply the conflict that sometimes arises between them. Here, McMullin takes us on a journey that thoroughly explores both the Doctor and Valerie after their traumatic adventure in The Curiosity Shop. Both give fantastic performances, and I love almost everything about their conversations (or arguments, I should say). Even the setting is amazing; I love how they stumble across a random planet that was besieged by the Time War ages ago (and in an actual Eighth Doctor audio), and I love how that informs their dynamic. This is a supremely satisfying and emotional story, and I love it. In a way, this is the Eleventh Doctor's Scherzo, and that's a huge compliment.

Do...

Do I have another new favourite Eleventh Doctor story right after saying Curiosity Shop was it?

Eleven does often get written as a surprisingly manipulative, even cruel, incarnation of the doctor, and while others that are done the same (e.g. Seven, Twelve) often get called out for it, Eleven never really seems to face any repercussions.

Seeing a companion call him out on his BS then, especially when they've been treated as poorly as Valarie was in Curiosity Shop, is just so satisfying.

Even more than that though, this story is written perfectly for this. The threat being Empathetic Weather, created by the Time Lords in The Time War is just brilliant. Pathetic fallacy is always a great tool in a storyteller's arsenal, but taking that as a concept and weaponising it? Especially in a story like this where emotions are just so high, it's incredible.

Then there's the sideplot with the robots, they really do just feel so real and you do just get so attached to them. If the robots didn't work, the story could fall apart, but they just do work. I love how they also somewhat mirror Eleven and Valarie, going around and trying to help people even if it feels pointless, and then being voiced by Dudman and Ingar, while presumably done for budgetary reasons, also just adds so much.

Also goddamnit, McMullin steals a twist I wanted to use if/when I ever get round to writing Doctor Who stories/fanfic. Oh well, the three life signs being the three heartbeats of Valarie and The Doctor is done really well, I guess I can forgive it here.

But yeah, all in all, 11DCs just keep being hits.